Thirty most populous cities in the world

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This a list of the thirty most populous cities in the world as of 2005. In most cases - but not all - the figures here are based on the population within city limits. This definition of a city is the one most commonly used in the United States and some other countries, but in many countries the primary meaning of "city" is the population of an urban area, regardless of where the administrative boundaries happen to be. The metropolitan area concept is also popular, but in many cases high figures claimed for metropolitan areas are disputed, or are considered by some to represent a region, rather than a city.

The List of metropolitan areas by population may be better suited to comparison between cities (though it also has many inconsistencies and complexities). No ranking of the world's largest cities can be final or authoritative - choices and interpretation are inevitably involved. It is commonplace for people to choose whichever criterion ranks their city highest and ignore all others.

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Note

Cities are invariably difficult to mathematically calculate and classify. In the following list you find areas of significant urban build-up that in and of themselves are not labeled by a governmental or in a zoning sense with the term "city". A city is an unavoidable natural occurrence of human society and social build-up and not necessarily rendered by the layout of its official governmental boundaries. For a more accurate understanding of urban build-up and population density, it would be best to view many of the other pages that this particular page links to.

Rank	City	Population	Definition	Country	Continent
1	Shanghai	15,017,783	Urban and suburban districts of Municipality	China	Asia
2	Mumbai (Bombay)	12,883,645	Municipal Corporation	India	Asia
3	Karachi	11,969,284	City District Government	Pakistan	Asia
4	Buenos Aires	11,595,183	Gran Buenos Aires	Argentina	South America
5	Delhi	11,215,130	Municipal Corporation	India	Asia
6	Manila	10,546,511	Metro Manila	Philippines	Asia
7	Moscow	10,472,629	City proper (excludes Zelenograd)	Russia	Europe
8	Seoul	10,409,345	Teukbyeolsi (Special City)	South Korea	Asia
9	São Paulo	10,059,502	City proper	Brazil	South America
10	Istanbul	10,034,830	Metropolitan municipality	Turkey	Asia and Europe
11	Lagos	9,020,089	City proper	Nigeria	Africa
12	Mexico City	8,659,409	Distrito Federal	Mexico	North America
13	Jakarta	8,556,798	Daerah Khusus Ibukota	Indonesia	Asia
14	Tokyo	8,372,440	23 special wards area	Japan	Asia
15	New York City	8,124,427	City proper	United States	North America
16	Kinshasa	8,096,254	Province	D.R. Congo	Africa
17	Lima	7,857,121	Province	Peru	South America
18	Cairo	7,836,243	Muhafazah	Egypt	Africa
19	Beijing (Peking)	7,602,069	Core districts + inner suburban districts of Municipality	China	Asia
20	London	7,489,022	Greater London	United Kingdom	Europe
21	Bogotá	7,235,084	Distrito Capital	Colombia	South America
22	Tehran	7,160,094	City proper	Iran	Asia
23	Dhaka (Dacca)	6,724,976	City proper	Bangladesh	Asia
24	Lahore	6,485,175	City District Government	Pakistan	Asia
25	Rio de Janeiro	6,055,582	City proper	Brazil	South America
26	Baghdad	5,753,612	Liwa	Iraq	Asia
27	Bangalore	5,104,047	Municipal Corporation	India	Asia
28	Bangkok	4,935,988	Changwat	Thailand	Asia
29	Santiago	4,893,495	City proper	Chile	South America
30	Toronto	4,670,783	Urban core of Census Metropolitan Area	Canada	North America